


Misspelled Texts

by MariahLacey42



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, goshiki can't express himself well, it's really just comfort, tendou is a good upperclassman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28783533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MariahLacey42/pseuds/MariahLacey42
Summary: Tendou has a sixth sense for knowing when his underclassman needs some comfortORGoshiki may not be good at expressing himself, but Tendou helps anyway
Relationships: Goshiki Tsutomu & Tendou Satori
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	Misspelled Texts

**Author's Note:**

> So I sat down and wrote this in about an hour because I was inspired by some conversations in one of my discord servers
> 
> It's not very complex, and it's mostly just me projecting onto Goshiki a bit, but I love Tendou and Goshiki's dynamic so much and I'm glad I could write my own take on it!

_ can u come over _

It was a simple text, devoid of the proper formatting and punctuation that Goshiki’s messages usually held. To be honest, he tended to text like an old person: always full sentences, proper punctuation, no abbreviations. If it had come from anyone else, Tendou probably wouldn’t have paid it any mind. But it wasn’t from anybody else, it was from Goshiki, and though the lowercase c and lack of question mark shouldn’t be that alarming, something deep in Tendou’s chest was twitching, telling him that this isn’t the message to be shrugging off. 

And just like that he was slipping on his beat-up tennis shoes (usually reserved for hiking and household chores) and grabbing his room key before walking off towards the first-year dorms. The perks of long legs, he doesn’t have to look like he’s rushing to move swiftly, striding across some uncomfortably wet grass to the blocky, minimalist building that nobody likes all that much (that’s why the first years live there)

When Tendou tugs on the doorknob, the door remains shut.

“Is it past curfew already?” He muses out loud. His phone glows back with the white numbers of 10:02. All the dorms on campus are closed except to their own residents now. Thankfully, he hears a soft voice from behind him. 

“Tendou-senpai?” He turns and sees the first year libero hopeful, Akakura Kai. Tendou breathes a thankful sigh then grins widely and gives an exaggerated wave to the shorter boy. 

“I was coming by to visit Goshiki-kun, but it looks like I just missed the curfew. You would mind letting your dear senpai in, would you?” His voice drips with a sweetness that only Tendou could pull off. 

“Uh, sure” Akakura replies, opening the door and glancing back warily at Tendou. “Tell him I say hi, and to not get himself too down about today”

Before Tendou can press the first year for what he means, the younger boy has hopped up the stairs, absolving himself of any responsibility for letting the lanky third year into the building. 

He feels a slight buzz from his pocket before he can start towards Goshiki’s room

_ Nvm, it’s late anyqay _

Now Tendou has even more cause to be worried. It honestly doesn’t even read like the same determined, awkward first year that Tendou normally sends memes to. So he does what he can, sending a smiley sticker in response before trudging all the way up to the fourth floor and knocking pointedly on the white door with Goshiki’s name taped on the front. 

When there’s no response, Tendou’s normal goofy smile falls. The last time he came to visit this room, Goshiki had appeared at the door within seconds, a slight pant betraying how quickly he had rushed to the door. Tendou tentatively tests the knob. When it turns easily he widens his eyes. Just the other day at the lunch table, Goshiki had revealed that he always locks his door, even if he’s just going to the bathroom down the hall, because “that’s what the hall officer tells us to do”

Tendou opens the door hesitantly, seeing the small first-year dorm lit up with all the fluorescent light it can be, the upsettingly green overhead light, the warm yellow floor lamp, and even the LED book lamp clamped to the edge of the bed are all shining into the space. 

And in the middle of this cacophony of light Tendou sees Goshiki, sitting upright in his bed, his legs crossed in front of him and his head hung so that the mismatched strands in the side of his face have swung forward. 

“Hey Goshiki-kun, what’s happenin?” Tendou keeps his words as close to normal as possible, while taking his normally energetic tone down a bit, both because of the late hour and the lingering worries about his underclassman. 

The spiky bundle jumps at the noise, turning quickly to look at Tendou with wide and slightly red eyes. 

“Tendou-senpai?” There’s an uncharacteristic softness in his voice. It’s gentle as a spring breeze instead of the autumn gale that usually sweeps out of the wing spiker. “I told you nevermind. It’s past curfew and I’m fine. I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me” His already softened tone trails at the end of that last statement

“I was already on my way. I would never pass up a chance to hang out with my adorable underclassman, trouble or no trouble” Normally Tendou would pinch Goshiki’s cheeks or poke him in the side at this point, but the tall boy instead just sits down on the edge of the half-lofted twin bed. “So what’s up?” Tendou rephrases his earlier question in a calm voice, hoping to get a concrete answer as to why the forceful boy is now curled into himself like a frightened hedgehog. 

“It’s not like that. Nothing’s...wrong” he answers the unspoken meaning of Tendou’s question. “It was stupid of me to even message you, it’s nothing. I’m--” He’s cut off by Tendou tutting and shaking a finger in his direction. 

“Don’t try and pull one over on the guess monster, ‘Tomu. Even if nothing is ‘wrong’,” Tendou rolls his eyes along with the air quotes. “I’m fine with listening to whatever you have to say, stupid or not.” Goshiki just turns his head away from Tendou and nods. “I met Akakura-kun on the way in and he said to not get yourself too down over today. Does that have anything to do with you acting nothing like yourself?” 

There’s a small, almost inaudible “Oh” from the other side of the bed. Goshiki looks back up at Tendou, his eyebrows turned downwards. 

“You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, Tomu. Do you want a hug or a distraction or both?” Tendou leans towards him a little bit and gives a wily grin. The younger looks at Tendou with wide eyes for a second. 

“Both” The word is nearly whispered, but that’s all it takes for Tendou to wrap his long arms around the other boy, ruffling the mop of black hair and squeezing just a bit tighter when he feels Goshiki relax for the first time since Tendou first entered the room. After a second, Tendou breaks the hold and instead puts a hand on Goshiki’s knee. “Do you wanna watch a comedy anime or volleyball highlights?” The younger cracks a small smile. Tendou ignores the tear tracks that are now present on his cheeks. 

“Volleyball” Tendou fakes surprise, his eyebrows raised and his response filled with feigned shock, and within 5 minutes the two are sat next to each other, a compilation of the best plays from the last Olympics pulled up in front of them, and the upsettingly bright lights paired down to just the soft floor lamp. Only when both of their legs are falling asleep and Goshiki’s tears are long dried does Tendou breathe a sigh of relief. He’s far from the best at comfort, but Goshiki isn’t the best at being comforted either, so they make a good pair. Perfectly mismatched. 

Tendou ends up heading back to his dorm room around 3 am, leaving a handful of sticky notes in Goshiki’s room saying things like ‘don’t forget to charge your laptop’ and ‘Let me know if you want to catch lunch tomorrow’ and tucking Goshiki into his small bed with a pat on the head. 

Goshiki does in fact message Tendou for lunch the next day, back to his normal full sentences and proper grammar. In fact, the young wing spiker seems more vibrant and confident than ever that day, nailing every spike at practice and glowing even more than normal when he gets the occasional compliment from the team. 

Tendou never does find out what happened that day specifically, but he does find out over time that Goshiki occasionally just falls apart at night. After weeks of brushing off negative comments and stress from the workload, he needs to let himself feel sad for a bit. He says it’s something that’s been happening since middle school, and that it’s usually harmless and he’s dealt with them alone so far. 

Thankfully, any time that happens for the rest of that year, Tendou is just one poorly spelled text away with one of his many bags of caramel popcorn and a goofy smile to ensure that Goshiki never has to be alone if he doesn’t want to be.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the story!
> 
> Let me know what you thought! This is the first work in years that I've written in the third person, so I hope it came out well!
> 
> Take care of yourselves and have a nice day!


End file.
